Saigo takamori (1828-1877)

"The last samurai"  

The film The Last Samurai brought a lot of attention and hype to a historic figure in Japan - Saigo Takamori. Although the film is very impressive and worth seeing it, the story is a fiction that takes historic events and characters as a basis and source of inspiration.

 But who was Saigo Takamori and what was the insurrection of the samurai all about?

Saigō Takamori (Takanaga) (西郷 隆盛(隆永） , January 23, 1828 – September 24, 1877) was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, living during the late Edo Period and early Meiji Era. He has been dubbed the last true samurai

Born lunar calendar December 7, the tenth year of Bunsei era (January 23, 1828), in Kagoshima in Satsuma domain (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture), Saigō served as a low-ranking samurai official in his early career. He was recruited to travel to Edo in 1854 to assist Satsuma Daimyo Shimazu Nariakira in promoting reconciliation and closer ties between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Imperial court (公武合体).

However, Saigō’s activity in Edo came to an abrupt end with the Ansei Purge by Tairo Ii Naosuke against anti-Shogunal activities, and the sudden death of Shimazu Nariakira. Saigō fled back to Kagoshima, only to be arrested and banished to Amami Ōshima island. He was recalled briefly in 1861, only to be banished again by the new Satsuma Daimyo Shimazu Hisamitsu. Hisamitsu finally pardoned Saigō in 1864, and sent him to Kyoto to handle the domain's interests towards the imperial court.

Upon assuming command of the Satsuma troops based in Kyoto, Saigō quickly formed an alliance with samurai from Aizu domain against the forces of rival Chōshū domain, and prevented that domain from seizing control of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in the Hamaguri Gomon Incident. In August 1864, Saigō was one of the military commanders of the punitive expedition mounted by the Tokugawa bakufu against Chōshū over the incident, but in secret he was conducting negotiations with Chōshū leaders, which later led to the Satcho Alliance. When the Tokugawa bakufu sent a second punitive expedition against Chōshū in August 1864, Satsuma remained neutral.

In November 1867, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned, returning power to the Emperor in what came to be known as the Meiji Restoration. However, Saigō was one of the most vocal and vehement opponents to the negotiated solution, demanding that the Tokugawa be stripped of their lands and special status. His intransigence was one of the major causes of the subsequent Boshin War.

During the Boshin War, Saigō led the imperial forces at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, and then led the imperial army toward Edo, where he accepted the surrender of Edo Castle from Katsu Kaishu.

Meiji bureaucrat

Although Okubo Toshimichi and others were more active and influential in establishing the new Meiji government, Saigō retained a key role, and his cooperation was essential in the abolition of the han system and the establishment of a conscript army. In spite of his humble background, in 1871 he was left in charge of the caretaker government during the absence of the Iwakura Mission (1871-72).

Saigō initially disagreed with the modernization of Japan and the opening of commerce with the West. He famously opposed the construction of a railway network, insisting that money should rather be spent on military modernization.

Saigō did insist, however, that Japan should go to war with Korea in the Seikanron debate of 1873 due to Korea's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Emperor Meiji as head of state of the Empire of Japan, and insulting treatment meted out to Japanese envoys attempting to establish trade and diplomatic relations. At one point, he offered to visit Korea in person and to provoke a casus belli by behaving in such an insulting manner that the Koreans would be forced to kill him. However, the other Japanese leaders strongly opposed these plans, partly from budgetary considerations, and partly from realization of the weakness of Japan compared with the western countries from what they had witnessed during the Iwakura Mission. Saigō resigned from all of his government positions in protest and returned to his hometown of Kagoshima.

Satsuma Rebellion (1877)

The Satsuma Rebellion (西南戦争, Seinan Sensō (Southwestern War) , was a revolt of Satsuma ex-samurai against the Meiji government from January 29, 1877 to September 24, 1877, 9 years into the Meiji Era. It was the last, and the most serious, oShortly thereafter, a private military academy was established in Kagoshima for the faithful samurai who had also resigned their posts in order to follow him from Tokyo. These disaffected samurai came to dominate the Kagoshima government, and fearing a rebellion, the government sent warships to Kagoshima to remove weapons from the Kagoshima arsenal. Ironically, this provoked open conflict, although with the elimination of samurai rice stipends in 1877, tensions were already extremely high. Although greatly dismayed by the revolt, Saigō was reluctantly persuaded to lead the rebels against the central governmentf a series of armed uprisings against the new government.

The rebellion was suppressed in a few months by the central government's army, a huge mixed force of 300,000 samurai officers and conscript soldiers under Kawamura Sumiyoshi. The Imperial troops were modern in all aspects of warfare, using howitzers and observation balloons. The Satsuma rebels numbered around 40,000, dwindling to about 400 at the final stand at the Battle of Shiroyama. Although they fought for the preservation of the role of the samurai, they used Western military methods, guns and cannons; all contemporary depictions of Saigō Takamori depict him garbed in Western-style uniform. At the end of the conflict, running out of material and ammunition, they had to fall back to close-quarter tactics and the use of swords, bows and arrows.